Object Chase

This is most likely to occur in the presence of moving objects that resemble natural prey in their size and/or the way they move; for example a small ball which moves in a quick, linear fashion or a feather on a string moved along the ground or through the air. The behaviour will closely resemble ‘Chasing prey’ behaviour (see Maintenance Behaviour). All senses will be directed toward the object – eyes focussed, ears forward and whiskers out and forward) and the cat will pursue the moving object, usually by running at full speed (See Maintenance Behaviour). Changes in direction by the object will be mirrored closely by the cat.

In one study, chasing was found to form 10% of object play behaviour (West, 1974 In: Bradshaw, Casey and Brown, 2012).

*Photographic images and video coming soon